NATO chief: US deal with Afghanistan crucial

Brussles: NATO’s secretary-general says the alliance won’t be able to deploy its non-combat training and advisory mission in Afghanistan after next year unless President Hamid Karzai agrees to a bilateral security agreement with the United States. Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he hopes Karzai will sign the agreement needed for NATO to reach its legal framework for plans to assist Afghan forces after combat troops leave at the end of 2014. [caption id=“attachment_1262911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] US troops eat during a Thanksgiving meal at a NATO base in Kabul, November 28, 2013. Reuters[/caption] Rasmussen’s comments Monday amounted to new pressure on Karzai a day before foreign ministers from NATO’s 28 member states meet in Brussels. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the United States led an international intervention that toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and has taken the lion’s share of responsibility in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force since then. AP